A prior-art heat exchanger, such as an air conditioner, is typically constructed by stacking a plurality of heat exchanger fins in which a plurality of through-holes have been drilled to enable heat exchanger tubes to be inserted.
Such heat exchanger fins are manufactured by a manufacturing apparatus for heat exchanger fins illustrated in FIG. 17.
The manufacturing apparatus for heat exchanger fins is equipped with an uncoiler 12 where a thin metal plate 10 made of aluminum or the like has been wound into a coil. The thin plate 10 pulled out from the uncoiler 12 via pinch rollers 14 is inserted into an oil applying apparatus 16 where machining oil is applied onto the surface of the thin plate 10, and is then supplied to a mold apparatus 20 provided inside a press apparatus 18.
The mold apparatus 20 internally includes an upper mold die set 22 capable of up-down movement and a lower mold die set 24 that is static. A plurality of collar-equipped through-holes (not shown), where collars of a predetermined height are formed around through-holes, are formed at predetermined intervals in a predetermined direction by the mold apparatus 20.
The result of machining the metal thin plate to produce the through-holes and the like is hereinafter referred to as the “metal strip 11”. After being conveyed a predetermined distance in the predetermined direction, the metal strip 11 is cut into predetermined lengths by a cutter 26. The products (heat exchanger fins) produced by such cutting into predetermined lengths are stored in a stacker 28. The stacker 28 has a plurality of stack pins 27 erected in the perpendicular direction and stacks the manufactured heat exchanger fins by inserting the stack pins 27 into the through-holes.